The European longs market has remained mostly stable this week, due to the absence of many market players because of holidays in several European countries. Republic Day (June 2) in Italy has pushed many players out of the market for a long weekend, and Corpus Christi (June 4) in some central European countries such as Germany and Poland has had a similar effect at the end of the current week.
The general market sentiment is stable, although the first signs of price weakness are emerging. High supply - especially of rebar - and weak demand, combined with uncertainties about the safeguards that will come into force within less than one month, are leading market players to buy less, avoid stockpiling and move with extreme caution.
Overall, however, product prices have remained stable this week, partly because working days were fewer.
In the Italian domestic market, the sporadic rebar purchase deals have been closed at unchanged levels of €440-450/mt ex-works base (€700-710/mt ex-works including regular extras), although requests from mills officially remain at €460/mt ex-works base (€720/mt ex-works including regular extras). To maintain these levels, several producers in Italy are implementing some production slowdowns, but demand from the finished steel market remains very low.
"There are few requests, and customers are trying to get lower prices," a source at an Italian mill said, referring to both domestic and export sales. Regarding the latter, official offers of rebar from Italy are still being reported at €630/mt FOB, but, according to a source, "This is only a nominal level. In Bulgaria and Romania, offers at €600-605/mt FOB have arrived from Italy." According to another source, however, deals for other destinations have been closed at €620-625/mt FOB.
As for wire rod, the situation seems to be slightly more stable, with offers in Italy heard at €695-710/mt for drawing quality and €685-690/mt for mesh quality. In central Eastern European markets and in Germany this same quality has been reported at €685-700/mt, while the prices of drawing quality have been reported respectively at €690-710/mt and €685-700/mt in the aforementioned countries. In Spain, on the other hand, price levels are much higher: €710-725/mt for drawing quality and €690-700/mt for mesh quality. It should be noted, however, that these are hypothetical levels, which may change over the month. All price ranges indicated are delivered to customer.
In the export market in Greece, rebar offers have been reported at higher levels compared to the beginning of May at €630-640/mt FOB, with the upper end of the range up by €10/mt compared to previously reported data. On the other hand, wire rod offers have decreased at €640-650/mt FOB compared to around €660/mt FOB at the beginning of May.
Finally, in import markets in Europe, offers came mainly from Turkey and Egypt, with Algeria remaining absent from export markets due to a higher focus on domestic sales. With a stable euro-dollar exchange rate at 1.16, offers from both countries have recorded slight declines: €555-560/mt CFR for Turkish rebar (down by €5-10/mt compared to before Eid Al-Adha, May 26-30) and €560-570/mt CFR for wire rod (also down by €10/mt on the lower end of the range over the same period). As for offers from Egypt, rebar has been reported at €550-560/mt CFR, down by €10/mt compared to the end of May, and wire rod at around €570/mt CFR, down slightly by €5-10/mt compared to the same period.
